Biometrics Research

Post navigation

Alibaba becomes board member of the FIDO Alliance

Alibaba Group is now a board member of the FIDO Alliance, joining its growing roster of members who share technology and collaborate to deliver open specifications for universal strong authentication that enables FIDO-compliant authentication processes to be interoperable, fully secure and private, and easier-to-use.

Alibaba’s payments business unit, Alipay is one of the first organizations to use FIDO technology for secure payments authentication with Nok Nok Labs, which is a founding member of FIDO Alliance.

“Our many businesses and services are enriched by authentication that creates a better and more reliable user experience, as well as insightful risk management,” said Ni Liang, senior director of department of security at Alibaba Group. “We look forward to participating on the FIDO Alliance board, and assuring that commerce and authentication are uniquely cooperative and seamlessly compatible.”

FIDO specifications will support various authentication technologies, including biometrics such as fingerprint, eye and iris scanners, voice and facial recognition.

The specifications also further enable other solutions and communications standards, including trusted platform modules, USB security tokens, embedded secure elements, smart cards, Bluetooth low energy, and near field communication.

Additionally, the organization’s open specifications will strive to be extensible and accommodate future innovation, as well as protect existing investments.

FIDO specifications allow for the simultaneous use of various technologies within an interoperable infrastructure, enabling authentication selection to adhere to the individual needs of users and organizations.

“The board will benefit greatly from Alibaba’s experience and influence throughout Asia,” said FIDO Alliance president Michael Barrett. “Pivotal organizations, like Alibaba, can rapidly impact adoption of FIDO authentication by facilitating strong authentication for its hundreds of millions of users. We enthusiastically welcome Alibaba to the FIDO Alliance board, and we anticipate their important influence on the first industry standards for universal strong authentication: FIDO standards.”